Although it doesn't seem that long ago, it's 15 years ago this month that Patty Hearst went on trial for terrorist-induced bank robbery, Gerald Ford dodged golf balls while living at the White House, and Terry Bradshaw lead the Steelers to a Super Bowl victory over the Dallas Cowboys. (And if you can remember when Bradshaw had hair, not to mention when the Cowboys could make it to the Super Bowl on a regular basis, you're showing your age, just like the rest of us.)
At the same time, the plum orchards of California's Santa Clara Valley were giving way to Silicon Valley's R&D labs and the crew at an outfit called the "People's Computer Company" were putting together a "reference journal." Dennis Allison contributed the "D" from his name, Bob Albrecht handed over "ob" from his and the publication was christened Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics & Orthodontia: Running Light Without Overbyte. Admittedly, the first DDJ had limited goals: To provide a minimal Basic-like programming language for writing simple programs. From the outset, the undertaking was a "participatory design project" in which readers were asked to share information and articles that made up the magazine. After the initial issue, Jim Warren came aboard as editor (for the princely salary of $350/month), and stayed around to guide DDJ for the next couple or so years.
Since those early days, many of the pioneers of the computing revolution have participated in the DDJ experience, leading us to this issue, which kicks off the 15th year of publication for the Doctor. Not only has DDJ survived, but it has grown, become established, and is lauded (most recently by CompuServe's Online Today magazine) as the "granddaddy of all programmers'magazines."
As I've said before, there aren't many magazines, computer-related or not, that manage to stick it out for 15 years. Byte is still there, also proudly proclaiming its 15th year of publication, and I feel particularly lucky to have been associated with both DDJ and Byte.
This past week, I called Dennis, Bob, and Jim, and all three were a little surprised to realize that the magazine was moving into its 15th year. It's not that they didn't expect DDJ to be around that long but, as Jim said, "we never really thought about any future for DDJ. Things were so chaotic back then and moving so fast that our focus was on the here and now." Bob added that "DDJ was supposed to be a four-issue, forty page project, and then self-destruct. But it's apparent that even back then, DDJ filled a need that people wanted." Dennis concurs: "DDJ just grew. We started it as a newsletter because there was nothing out there like it. And there still isn't. It stands almost alone among technical personal computing magazines. We xeroxed some flyers, then all of a sudden we had 400 or 500 subscribers within the first two weeks. It looked like there was an audience." Both Bob and Dennis agree that much of DDJ's early success rests on Jim's shoulders. "A lot of the flavor of DDJ came from Jim," said Dennis, with Bob simply adding that "Jim did a hell of a job."
But editors move on to other things, paradigms come into and go out of vogue, and languages take on new forms. More so than anything else, DDJ's one constant over the years -- the real key to its success -- has been the desire and openness of DDJ readers to share programming information and techniques with each other. Even before I joined the DDJ staff, Ray Duncan underscored this when he said that DDJ's greatest strength was its core of faithful readers. But, as Dennis points out, that's nothing new. "From the very start," he says, "DDJ's loyal following has made it special."
It comes as no surprise that Dennis, Bob, and Jim are still involved with computers and programming in one way or another. Dennis continues his lectures on computer science at Stanford, and consults the rest of the time ("You have a computer you want built, I'll build it."). Bob writes books on and teaches about programming (he's still a believer in Basic), and Jim's just completed a four-year stint as a community college trustee and is resharpening his programming skills.
The only thing I'd like to add is a simple thanks to Dennis, Bob, and Jim, and all you readers who have stuck with DDJ over years.
On another subject, you'll notice that this month's issue inaugurates the "Programmer's Workbench." This new monthly section focuses on developer's tools and how they interact in a complete environment for developing a given application. The types of tools we'll cover range from prototyping tools and code generators that support the API of a complex GUI to add-in libraries that make it possible for you not to continually reinvent the wheel. Rather than simply present a shopping list of tools and a discussion of how they interact, the Programmer's Workbench orchestrates the tools on the workbench to develop something real. And in the process, the strengths and weaknesses of each tool are revealed. Ultimately, you'll walk away with a sense that you actually used those tools, and you'll have the code to experiment further.
Contributing editor Andrew Schulman leads off with a two-part article, exploring the problem of general protection faults. If you have ideas for similar Workbench topics and tools, we'd like to hear from you and spread your tools out across the workbench as well.